What a beautiful weekend! But before I get to that, I'll do a Friday update since I haven't blogged since Thursday.

Friday was I was so frickin' tired! Well, Thursday night after I blogged, fatigue hit me like a hammer to the head. I was tired through and through. In the morning I slept in until I heard Luke bellowing at me at 9:30 to give him a ride to the bus (the Swat, his lacrosse team, went to Calgary for 3 games this weekend). I threw some clothes on, brushed my teeth and hobbled about as quickly as I could muster. We would have been on time for the bus had Luke not NEEDED to stop at Tim Horton's on 22nd on the way. That place is CRAZY busy! When we pulled up to the bus at Kinsmen arena 5 minutes after 10:00, the coaches were outside the bus waiting for him, tapping their watches. Luke blamed it on me. I'm confident their smart enough to make their own deductions based on the Tim Horton's bag in his hand.

So home again and I made it to work shortly after 11:00. I worked late and through lunch to make it a full day. My goal was to work a full week and I wasn't going to fall short. I did it! YEAH!! Of course, Friday night was a total write off.

Oddly enough for me, I woke up early on Saturday and when I saw that shining sun I couldn't bring myself to go back to bed. And I told myself that it would be better if I got used to getting up earlier even if I did tired out earlier in the evening. Good practice for my work week. Since I was awake before 8:00, I decided to go to the Farmer's Market, where I haven't been in 2 years. It was FABULOUS!! I loved poking about. I picked up some items and then headed to the Saskatchewan Craft Council show and sale along the riverbank. They were only just about set up when I got there and it was perfect ... for me ... for viewing. And then I was home just as Kevin was waking up. What a lovely morning!!

Then I had chores. Did I mention that when I got back from my 2 weeks of traveling, everything in my cupboards seemed dirty? I would grab a "clean" glass from the cupboard and then have to wash it before using it. All of the dishes looked like they'd been outside in the wind, rain, and sun for a week. Of course, the dear men in my family hadn't really noticed. They just kept putting the dishes in the cupboards even though they were disgustingly and obviously yucky and then ... worse ... they were using them!! I finally determined that it's because of a further break-down of our already barely functioning dishwasher. Yesterday Kevin ran a load and the dishes came out looking dirtier than they went in. SO gross!! This is what they'd been doing while I was away and then putting the disgusting things neatly in the cupboards!  So my Saturday chore was to wash all the dishes in our cupboards. That's what I did. While I was at it, I wiped down the insides of the cupboards, too, of course. And now they're all sparkly clean. The dishwasher is off limits until our new one arrives in the middle of July. Even Kevin said he noticed how sparkly the glasses are ... as if that's not normal. Ewwwww!!

Even though it was beautiful out, I can't spend too much time in the sun so I just popped outside every now and then to watch Kevin plant flowers and pull a few weeks ... or just sit in the shade for a bit. It's so nice to have planted pots on our deck again!! I'll be watching for growth every day. I can't wait until they fill in!!

Last night we went to Darrel and Lynn's for dinner ... barbequed burgers, both beef and moose. All so good! And then we played cards. I can't even remember the last time I played canasta (hand and foot)! I'm usually too tired by the time someone suggests it. This time we started early enough and it was great to play again.

I saw Lori yesterday, too. This pile of my hats on Kevin's head ... as well as other smaller ones packed in the car ... are on their way along with my wigs (just in case they work for her) to Lori. Soon, I'm sad to say, she's going to need them. It reminds me to thank my friends again for all the hats and scarves they sent my way. I used them so much and they added some fun and function to what were a lot of otherwise dreary days. I'm happy to say I can mostly go without them now and I hope you're happy to have me share them with someone else who will need them.

I wish I could share the hilarious photo I took of Darrel wearing one of my wigs last night!!  He looked like one of the Beatles ... well, except for the moustache!  Very funny!  I promised him I wouldn't blog it.  But, trust me, he looked hilarious!  And awesome!

Lori did a clever thing I have to tell you about. To cover and protect her PICC-line, she cut the foot off an colourfully striped sock and pulled that over her PICC-line to make a very nice arm cuff! I wish I'd thought of that. In fact, she must have had two pairs of that sock because she was wearing socks that matched her PICC-line cuff. CLEVER!!

And now ... a beautiful Sunday. Time for oatmeal with blueberries, raspberries and banana! Mmmmm ...

By the way, the clematis above is from our very own backyard. It has been blooming like crazy for quite a while now!

Should I Get A Tattoo?

These are the marks on the inside of my upper arm that were left behind after my PICC-line was removed. They look darker ... more reddish-purple in real life. I thought they might have faded a bit more by now but they really don't look much different than they did a few months ago. Hmmm ...

I'm thinking that if, after a year, they haven't faded considerably, I might just get a tattoo to disguise them.

It would take some planning? Any suggestions?

Should I Get A Tattoo?

PICC Line Misery

I thought the PICC-line wasn't so bad ... until the freezing came out! It started to hurt a little bit after that. I took some tylenol confident that it would take the edge off. It didn't. I took two more tylenol four hours later and it only kept hurting more. Nobody told me it would hurt this much. Then again, I'm known to have a rather low pain threshold. Still, didn't I give birth to two babies ... with NO EPIDURALS??!! I tried to go to bed but was much too uncomfortable to settle, so we phoned the PICC-HELP line to see if this is normal and they told us to get back to St. Paul's emergency, which I now know is not a place I want to be at midnight on a Tuesday night. I had to avert my eyes a couple of times to prevent landing flat on my face.

The kind people there got me safe behind a curtain and checked me over, flushed my PICC-line and told me it seems to be working fine. They couldn't figure out why it was hurting so much in the couple of inches above the incision but they iced it, gave me some morphine and a sleeping pill, and sent me home with the knowledge that, at least, it's not an infection or anything I have to worry about immediately. I imagine they'll scrutinize it when I go to the cancer centre in a couple of hours.

Why, oh WHY, can't things go just normally??!! Kevin and I are both a little groggy this morning. On to chemo.

*Side note* - Last night Kevin and commented that a generation ago it would have been impossible to end up with a female doctor and three male nurses on your medical team. Interesting. They were all excellent, by the way.

PICC Line Misery

PICC-line done!

The PICC-line is in. The scariest thing about some of these procedures is my own imagination. I've known that for some time, but still ... *shudder*! I must say that the nurses and doctors at St. Paul's who took part in this procedure made all the difference! Michelle was so comforting and caring right from the get go. She understands the fear of the unknown and she gave me as much information as I needed to help me relax (as much as I could relax). Diane and Sean and the others were so helpful. Even the Doctor had a great sense of humour and he wore a "flaming" medical cap.

They all wanted my purse, though. I'm lucky I got out with it.

Next step ... chemo.

PICC-line done!